The UN warns that the COVID-19 pandemic remains a cause for global concern, with outbreaks of cholera, Ebola and monkeypox (now renamed mpox) leading health and aid workers to mobilize to contain the life-threatening diseases. The United Nations warns that the goal of eradicating HIV/AIDS by 2030 is threatened, but a new vaccine offers hope of defeating malaria.
At the beginning of the year, a global population tired of the chaos caused by the COVID-19 pandemic had to deal with a new, highly transmissible variant: Omicron.
Omicron and subsequent mutant strains

This latest version swept through Europe, resulting in a record number of weekly cases but a relatively low death toll compared to previous outbreaks.
And, although many countries are beginning to ease embargoes and other restrictions on movement, the World Health Organization ( WHO ) notes that the disease remains a threat: by August, 1 million COVID-19-related deaths had been recorded.
At the agency's World Health Assembly in May - the first to be held in person since before the 2019 pandemic - WHO Director General Tandusse urged countries not to let their guard down.
"Is COVID-19 over? No, it's certainly not over. I know that's not the message you want to hear, and it's definitely not the message I want to deliver," he told delegates.

One billion COVAX injections delivered
Since the early days of the pandemic, WHO has been calling for unequal distribution of vaccines and treatments for COVID-19, urging that more be done for people living in developing countries: The UN-supported COVAX Fund, a multilateral initiative to provide equal access to vaccines for all, reached an important milestone in January, when Rwanda recorded its one billionth vaccination.
COVAX undoubtedly saved many lives, but by March, Tandse warned that a third of the world's population still had not received a single dose of COVID-19 vaccine, including a shocking 83 percent of Africans.
This inequality remained an issue in November, when a WHO report confirmed that low-income countries had been struggling to get the basic vaccinations needed in rich countries.
"This is unacceptable to me, and it should not be acceptable to anyone," Tandse said. "If the rich of the world are enjoying the benefits of high vaccine coverage, why can't the poor of the world? Are some lives more valuable than others?"